jected in 1692, he published a pamphlet called 'The Pretences of the French Invasion examined for the information of the People of England;' and in the preface to a new edition of King's 'Present State of the Protestants of Ireland' he undertook to show that James II carried on the design of destroying liberty, property, and protestantism.
He died on 25 Nov. 1699 at East Newton, and was buried in Stonegrave church. He married in 1668 Alice, eldest daughter of William Thornton, esq., of East Newton, by Alice his wife, daughter of Sir Christopher Wandesford of Kirklington. By this lady, who died on 20 Jan. 1720, aged 87, he had four sons and two daughters.
His works, in addition to those already mentioned and some occasional sermons, are:
- 'A Companion to the Temple and Closet; or a help to publick and private devotion, in an Essay upon the daily Offices of the Church,' 2 parts, London, 1672-6, 8vo; 2nd edition, with additions, 2 parts, London, 1676-9, 8vo; 4 parts, London, 1684 and 1688, fol.; 4th edition, 1701-2, fol. A new edition was published at the Clarendon Press (7 vols., Oxford, 1841, 8vo) without addition of any kind, and omitting the preface to Comber's later editions. This is the most complete book extant on the Book of Common Prayer, abounding in learned references to authorities. All succeeding writers on the subject are deeply indebted to it, particularly Wheatley.
- 'Roman Forgeries in the Councils during the first four centuries' (with appendix), 1673, 8vo, 2 parts; London, 1689, 4to. Reprinted in Gibson's 'Preservative against Popery,' xv. 89.
- 'Friendly and Seasonable Advice to the Roman Catholics of England,' 1674 (anon.) To the 4th edition (1685) the author prefixed his name. A new edition, with an appendix and notes by Walter Farquhar Hook, appeared in 1836 and elicited a reply from 'Julius Vindex' entitled 'A Letter to the Rev. W. F. Hook, proving the truth of the Roman Catholic Religion from Protestant authority alone,' London [1847].
- 'A Companion to the Altar; or an help to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper,' London, 1675, 8vo; 4th edition, 2 parts, London, 1685, 8vo; 6th edition, 2 parts, London, 1721, 8vo.
- 'The Right of Tithes' (anon.) In answer to Elwood the quaker.
- 'The Occasional Offices of Matrimony, Visitation of the Sick, Burial of the Dead, Churching of Women, and the Commination, explained in the method of the Companion to the Temple: being the fourth and last part,' London, 1679, 8vo.
- 'Religion and Loyalty,' a political pamphlet, 1681.
- 'An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes,' London, 1683, 1685, 4to.
- 'Short Discourses upon the whole Common Prayer, designed to inform the judgment and excite the devotion of such as daily use the same,' London, 1684, 8vo; 2nd edition, 1688; 4th edition, 1712.
- 'A Discourse concerning Excommunication,' London [1684], 4to.
- 'The Church Catechism, with a brief and easy explanation thereof,' London,1686, 8vo.
- 'The plausible Arguments of a Romish Priest answered from Scripture by an English Protestant,' London, 1686, 8vo; 1687, 4to; 1688, 8vo; 1735, 8vo; York [1800 ?], 12mo.
- 'A Discourse concerning the daily frequenting the Common Prayer,' London, 1687, 8vo.
- ' A Discourse of Duels,' London, 1687, 4to.
- 'A Discourse concerning the second Council of Nice, which first introduced and established Image-worship in the Christian Church, anno Domini 787,' London, 1688, 4to (anon.) Reprinted in Gibson's 'Preservative against Popery,' vii. 373, viii. 1.
- 'A Scholastical History of the primitive and general use of Liturgies in the Christian Church,' London, 1690, 8vo.
- 'The Examiner examined; being a Vindication of the History of Liturgies,' London, 1691, 4to. In reply to the strictures of the Rev. Samuel Bold [q. v.]
- 'The Church History clear'd from the Roman Forgeries and Corruptions found in the Councils and Baronius. Being the third and fourth parts of the Roman Forgeries,' London, 1695, 4to.
- 'A Discourse on the Offices for the V of November, XXX th of January, and XXIX th of May,' London, 1696, 8vo.
It seems doubtful whether the 'Christus Triumphans, Comoedia Apocalyptica' by John Foxe the martyrologist, which appeared in 1672, was published by him. His great-grandson, the Rev. Thomas Comber, published 'Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Comber, D.D., sometime Dean of Durham, in which is introduced a candid view of the scope and execution of the several works of Dr. Comber, as well printed and MS.; also a fair account of his literary correspondence,' London, 1799, 8vo (with portrait).
[Memoirs by his grandson; Biog. Brit.; Addit. MS. 29674, f. 2186; Jones's Popery Tracts, pp. 164, 233, 286, 327, 430; Birch's Life of Tillotson, pp. 49, 393, 394; Note by Sir F. Madden in Birch MS. 4221, f. 3406; Ayscough's Cat. of MSS. pp. 731, 794; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), iii. 157, 186, 193, 300; Darling's Cycl. Bibliographica; Notes and Queries (2nd series), ix. 307, 371; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Elwes and Robinson's Castles of Western Sussex, p. 190; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 601, 602, iii. 608.]
